Livingston
by Samhainix
Summary: The creature that named itself Annabelle manipulates its way into the life of a boy who loves impossible stories. What does she want with him? and more importantly will he survive his own impossible story?
1. Chapter 1

April Livingston watched her son Bobby from the kitchen, it was Friday night and his eyes were glued to the tube for the latest edition of Science Fiction Adventures. Bobby got his love of creepy, impossible things from his father and when his dad passed away a few years ago it was something he kept going to keep his memory alive. April knew that wherever her husband was he was proud that Bobby was keeping the tradition going.

When April finished washing the dinner dishes, she sat down next to her son and put an arm around him.

"What's happened so far?" she asked

"Some scientist has been killing people and framing his students by stealing their fingerprints and leaving them on the bodies" Bobby quickly explained, barely taking a breath

April was glad he had an interest, especially one that made him feel closer to his dad but she really wished that he didn't enjoy the more gruesome aspects as much as he did.

Bobby stifled a laugh as the mad scientist brought an axe down on an unwitting colleague and fired off a monologue about how killing was merely a part of the human condition, however his skin was starting to peel revealing he was anything but human. The scientist shed the false skin, embracing the scales underneath and mocking his deceased victim.

"I always admired your face, Jacob so fitting that I'll soon be wearing it"

Just then a knock at the door stirred April from the strange tale. Leaving her son to enjoy the conclusion, April opened the door to find a small girl, about Bobby's age standing in the darkness.

"Can I help you, sweetie?" April asked

"I've been looking for my dog, he's small and furry and has a spot just above his eye, have you seen him?"

"I'm sorry we haven't, has he been gone long?"

The girl looked so upset, her little brown eyes broke April's heart.

"All day" she said sadly

"How long have you been searching for him?"

"Hours, my mom and dad said that I had to find him cause it was my fault that he ran away"

"Oh honey, I'm sure that's not true" April tried to reassure her "Are you hungry, would you like to come inside for something to eat?"

The girl nodded through her tears.

"I'm Mrs. Livingston but you can call me April" April introduced herself as the girl stepped over the threshold

"I'm Annabelle" the girl replied "Annabelle Higgins"

Bobby's mom introduced him to Annabelle, she seemed a little strange, he couldn't really say why but something about her just seemed off. Over some left overs Annabelle seemed to forget about her missing dog instead spending some time talking to Bobby about his love of monsters. Bobby found himself telling her about his favourite creatures, from alien cyclops' to the Thing from Dimension 8, she seemed to enjoy hearing him describe them in every macabre detail and he enjoyed having someone to talk to about it.

When the time came for Annabelle to leave, Bobby walked her to the door.

"See you later?" Bobby asked, hopefully

"See you at school" she smiled, pulling him into a hug

Annabelle's skin felt cold to the touch but Bobby embraced her warmly. He had a feeling that they were going to be the best of friends. A sharp pain in the back of his neck forced Bobby to break the hug. It felt like a mosquito bite, he rubbed the back of his neck to try and sooth it but it burned. Annabelle simply smiled again and wished him a good night before going on her way.

The thing that wore the skin of a child smiled to itself as it wandered back to its dwelling. One of its fingernails was stained with blood. It had achieved its goal, now all it had to do was wait.


	2. Chapter 2

Over the next few weeks Bobby and Annabelle grew closer. They had a few classes together at school and always found time to meet up after they had ended. The "mosquito bite" Bobby had got the night he met Annabelle had grown a dark crusty scab that was painful from time to time. It kept him from sleeping most nights.

Bobby tried to nap at the park bench where he usually met Annabelle but just as he closed his eyes, a colossal bang woke him up. It was Annabelle, she had dropped a large book onto the bench.

"Still trouble sleeping?" she asked

Bobby nodded, weakly

"Maybe a little reading would help"

Annabelle slid the book over to him. It looked very old and worn but the cover was still clear enough to see. A strange looking symbol with two glaring yellow eyes inside, it was perched above the title "Minds of the Ram"

"What is this?" Bobby asked through a yawn

"The ultimate monster book" Annabelle replied "I found it in the library last night, it's filled with so many stories of creatures beyond what we can see, the man who wrote it started a group to pay tribute to them"

"You mean like a cult?"

Annabelle nodded enthusiastically, she didn't shy away from such things, it was something Bobby liked about her. Bobby gave the book a chance and began thumbing through it. The writing in the book was hard to understand but Bobby got enough of the basics to know that it was seriously scary stuff. Rituals involving virgin blood, which Annabelle told him meant blood that had never been sacrificed before. There were chapters about mass murderers that the author believed were personifications of demons conjured by malevolent minds or actions and finally there was art of the monsters that the author had worshipped.

The artwork was beautiful and horrific, evil looking but left Bobby full of awe. One in particular gave Bobby chills, which for some reason set off the pain in the scab on the back of his neck. The picture was of a monstrous creature, it had devil like horns, shadow like skin and the piercing yellow eyes from the cover along with the odd symbol burnt into its forehead. It scared Bobby, he didn't know why, it just did. It didn't help that there was something very familiar about it he just couldn't place.

"So what do you think?" asked Annabelle after about thirty minutes of reading

Bobby didn't really know how to answer. He was so tired but the book fascinated him, he wanted to learn more about this world of demons and dark rituals. Thankfully Annabelle let him borrow it for a few days.

Bobby had gotten to chapter five just on his walk home. Inside his house Bobby's mother was cooking something that smelt amazing.

"How was your day, hon?" she asked him through the kitchen doorway

"It was school" Bobby said passively through a yawn.

"What smells so good?" he asked

"Space spaghetti and monsters"

That's what Bobby's mom called spaghetti and meatballs, she used food coloring to dye the spaghetti green and then carved little monster faces into the meatballs. Bobby knew that she didn't always like his enthusiasm of science fiction but he always appreciated her creativity and she knew how to make him smile.

Wanting to get back to his book, Bobby lied that he had lots of homework to do and would be down shortly for dinner.

Once in his room Bobby read through chapter 6, discovered what the author called "The Meal Confession of the Flesh" which just sounded gross. Then Bobby found out more about the unnamed beast from before that set his scab aching every time he saw it. Bizarrely even though his scab felt like it was on fire, the image of the beast calmed his mind, made him feel at ease and as he drew a sketch of it he could keep, Bobby drifted into a deep sleep.

Bobby's eyes slowly flickered open. His vision blurred but he knew someone else was in the room with him. He could just make them out, they were reading the book. Bobby tried to grab it but his balance was off and his head felt like it was being cut in two.

The intruder was shouting at him, he didn't know what they were saying, it sounded muffled, like Bobby's ears had just popped. The intruder was angry though, Bobby could tell that much, was he angry at Bobby? At the book? Bobby had no idea but he knew he had to leave. With one burst of effort Bobby pushed the blurred figure to the ground and ran out of his room.

Bobby tried to make an attempt on walking down the stairs but he felt so dizzy and couldn't concentrate. At that moment someone placed their hand on his shoulder. Bobby grabbed it defensively before losing his balance, not wanting the intruder to get away Bobby held onto the hand tightly and they both fell down the stairs together.

Two loud cracks and a yell later, Bobby came to at the bottom of the stairs. The intruder was on top of him. Bobby's heart raced in fear as he called his mother for help.

The intruder started moving, Bobby screamed and tried to wriggle out from under him but the intruder grabbed him. In fear and desperation Bobby wrapped his hands around the intruders throat and squeezed with all his strength. After a minute of struggling the intruder finally stopped and went limp.

Bobby let out a sigh of relief and heard steps approaching from the hall.

"Help me, mom" Bobby pleaded, weakly as someone sat down beside him. She stroked his hair silently before ripping the scab off his neck.

Bobby swore in pain, as it felt like a million knives just sliced into his body. After a moment though Bobby's headache had almost completely disappeared and his vision was clearing to the point that he could see that the figure stroking his hair was not his mother but instead Annabelle. Bobby was confused.

"What..." he tried before Annabelle put a finger to his lips

"Shh" she said comfortingly "You don't want to wake her"

Bobby followed her gaze back to the intruder, who was not an intruder at all. It was Bobby's mother. She lay dead inches away from him with her eyes wide open, just staring at Bobby in fear. He had killed her. Bobby was in shock at what he had done, he grabbed his mother's arm and apologized to her over and over, pleading with her to wake up.

Bobby felt a cold hand touch his neck, playfully dancing fingers over what used to be his scab.

"You did well, my child" Annabelle told him "I'm very proud of you"

Bobby turned to yell at her but Annabelle was gone. The woman before him was his mother, alive and well, with a smile on her face.

Bobby pulled her into a hug, she felt so cold but he didn't care. With tears in his eyes he held her close.

"Son" his mother said firmly

Bobby didn't want to break the hug, as one sided as it was but reluctantly he did so and looked up at his mother. She smiled again at him. It felt wrong somehow but Bobby pushed it to the back of his head.

"Bobby" she said, stroking his hair "I have something I need you to do"

A very small part of Bobby knew that the woman before him wasn't his mother, his mother lay dead behind him but he didn't want to think about that so he buried that small dose of reality and listened to what his hallucination was telling him. Bobby of course agreed to his yellow eyed mother's terms, he didn't want her to leave again.


End file.
